Post by canadamike on Mar 29, 2008 16:28:20 GMT -5
Hey buddies, RELAX, IT WAS A JOKE BETWEEN CANADIANS!!
Let me explain the system a bit, but understand all that we have 10 provinces, which are quite similar to states, and 3 territories in the great white north, they are not provinces per say, relying on the Federal more, there is almost nobody there, they do not have resources to act as provinces and develop health policies, agricultural ones etc... their prime ministers are just mayors of very small towns in reality.
There is a sharing of power and duties between federal and provincial. It is in the constitution. Some things are also OF EITHER FEDERAL OR PROVINCIAL EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION, like immigation is federal, education is provincial.
Amongst the shared, like agriculture, the federal overviews national interest, like safety of crop, legalisation of pesticides etc...because it is also related to health and there is a lot of interprovincial movement of crops.
But it is to the provinces to DIRECTLY PUT IN FORCE THESE REGULATIONS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE RELATED TO THE DAY TO DAY, THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF AGRICULTURE.
The quota system applies only to certain productions. Chicken, both eggs and meat, milk, and maybe something else I forget, but it has to be under the radar in these parts of the country because I have a lot of farming clients and it does not come to my mind.
While I, like others, especially the organic crowd, have some beef with the quotas, they were enacted to the great satisfaction of the majority of concerned farmers.
Under that regime, everybody sells its milk/ eggs/meat at a fixed price to a board, which emits quotas to make sure the national supply needs are met, and the farmers in remote areas are not disadvantaged vis-à-vis the others, which explains why the fertile lands of northern Ontario are still farmed despite being many hours away from big cities
ANYBODY CAN SELL TO THE EXPORT MARKETS outside that system. No quotas there.
These products under quotas cannot be sold at the farm.
It is, in practice, only true for milk, but it is mostly due to health hazards. I buy my eggs at the farm, there are signs at the road, no problems.
While pure capitalists and libertarians take offense in goverment regulating productions, I would like to point out that although farms have been abandonned here too, our countryside is still alive with small farms, you can milk 40 cows here and make a living, or have 13,000 eggs laying chickens, like one on my client, and live well.
In America, it is different. My friend went to an agricultural fair there, inquired about a new system for its chickens, only to discover the SMALLEST system was for 1,000,000 chickens, or to repeat the words of the salesman, UNITS.
Anybody that can supply the equivalent of a village with its production should be allowed to farm in dignity.
This system has kept alive the small producers.
And yes, one can sell on location whatever is produced at the farm , or elsewhere provided provincial regulations on health safety are followed. When sold at the farm, transformed products can usually be cooked in the farmers kitchen or wherever, no inspections are made.
There are problems between organic vs industrial like everywhere else, but this is an evolving situation. and another topic. The quota system is taking the rap for manything that is not related to it, like the free trade with Canada in Iowa, while everybody knows it is India and China that are stealing our jobs....and Brazil is doing the same in the agricultural world.
The quota system is like you and I, imperfect. But it has provided a way of life for families that would now be urban ones if it was not for it.
And to the ones who think we pay more for our milk, I welcome you to cross the border to save money on it.
Canada has no lesson to receive from ANYBODY, especially Europe and America, the world's largest providers of grants and interventionists in farming.FREE ENTERPRISE MY FRIGGIN ASS.....
The difference is Europe subsidises the small farms to keep them alive, even giving money, no joke, for the value of the scenery and such... while the USA being the USA, it is the big farming loby that gets everything, these SOCIALISTS MEASURES FOR THE BILLIONAIRES end up deciding what will be grown because this is where the bacon is, instead of relying on market and demand, and are a crual blow to bio-diversity, the perfect entrance door to the Monsanto's and such. They get huge cllients with garanteed revenues even if a crop is overgrown, and oh! Surprise! It happens in the areas where the gm crops are the most developped...Pure coincidence of course...
The subsidies are minimal in my country, and mostly go to farmers when a disaster hits a crop. The quota is far less interventionist than cash distribution, it does not creates false needs, garantees revenues to FAMILY FARMS and has no negative impact on the thirld world, who cannot compete with the artificially low prices of crops sold by America and Europe, low prices that DO NOT END UP AS A BENEFIT TO THE PEOPLE BUYING THE FOOD.
In percentage of revenue earned, the canadians have THE LEAST EXPENSIVE FOOD BASKET IN THE WORLD. we dedicate 11% of our revenue on food, the french 33%, you are somewhere around 15-16% I think. Anyway, you spend more than us. And that is with higher per capita revenue.
So the day one country does better than us, we will still be able to stand up and say that there is only one doing it better, but we are working on it !!!
There could be many sub-discussions on that topic, but I will leave it at that for the moment.
I am praying for the quota system to be improved, for my country to devise a wise family oriented organic policy, and I am saying A HUGE FUCK YOU to the american lobby of corporate industrial growers who want our system of quotas abandonned so they can come in and implant there bloody gigantic animal factories...Oops! Sorry! UNITS factories.
Ask the american small dairy farmers of neighbouring Maine what they think of quotas....You are in for a ''Canada has a great system'' kind of surprise...
The ones against it are the lawers and doctors who pool their cash to build industrial operations they will never see, and are run by a well paid manager and low salaried workers.
Proudly canadian CANADAMIKE
Let me explain the system a bit, but understand all that we have 10 provinces, which are quite similar to states, and 3 territories in the great white north, they are not provinces per say, relying on the Federal more, there is almost nobody there, they do not have resources to act as provinces and develop health policies, agricultural ones etc... their prime ministers are just mayors of very small towns in reality.
There is a sharing of power and duties between federal and provincial. It is in the constitution. Some things are also OF EITHER FEDERAL OR PROVINCIAL EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION, like immigation is federal, education is provincial.
Amongst the shared, like agriculture, the federal overviews national interest, like safety of crop, legalisation of pesticides etc...because it is also related to health and there is a lot of interprovincial movement of crops.
But it is to the provinces to DIRECTLY PUT IN FORCE THESE REGULATIONS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE RELATED TO THE DAY TO DAY, THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF AGRICULTURE.
The quota system applies only to certain productions. Chicken, both eggs and meat, milk, and maybe something else I forget, but it has to be under the radar in these parts of the country because I have a lot of farming clients and it does not come to my mind.
While I, like others, especially the organic crowd, have some beef with the quotas, they were enacted to the great satisfaction of the majority of concerned farmers.
Under that regime, everybody sells its milk/ eggs/meat at a fixed price to a board, which emits quotas to make sure the national supply needs are met, and the farmers in remote areas are not disadvantaged vis-à-vis the others, which explains why the fertile lands of northern Ontario are still farmed despite being many hours away from big cities
ANYBODY CAN SELL TO THE EXPORT MARKETS outside that system. No quotas there.
These products under quotas cannot be sold at the farm.
It is, in practice, only true for milk, but it is mostly due to health hazards. I buy my eggs at the farm, there are signs at the road, no problems.
While pure capitalists and libertarians take offense in goverment regulating productions, I would like to point out that although farms have been abandonned here too, our countryside is still alive with small farms, you can milk 40 cows here and make a living, or have 13,000 eggs laying chickens, like one on my client, and live well.
In America, it is different. My friend went to an agricultural fair there, inquired about a new system for its chickens, only to discover the SMALLEST system was for 1,000,000 chickens, or to repeat the words of the salesman, UNITS.
Anybody that can supply the equivalent of a village with its production should be allowed to farm in dignity.
This system has kept alive the small producers.
And yes, one can sell on location whatever is produced at the farm , or elsewhere provided provincial regulations on health safety are followed. When sold at the farm, transformed products can usually be cooked in the farmers kitchen or wherever, no inspections are made.
There are problems between organic vs industrial like everywhere else, but this is an evolving situation. and another topic. The quota system is taking the rap for manything that is not related to it, like the free trade with Canada in Iowa, while everybody knows it is India and China that are stealing our jobs....and Brazil is doing the same in the agricultural world.
The quota system is like you and I, imperfect. But it has provided a way of life for families that would now be urban ones if it was not for it.
And to the ones who think we pay more for our milk, I welcome you to cross the border to save money on it.
Canada has no lesson to receive from ANYBODY, especially Europe and America, the world's largest providers of grants and interventionists in farming.FREE ENTERPRISE MY FRIGGIN ASS.....
The difference is Europe subsidises the small farms to keep them alive, even giving money, no joke, for the value of the scenery and such... while the USA being the USA, it is the big farming loby that gets everything, these SOCIALISTS MEASURES FOR THE BILLIONAIRES end up deciding what will be grown because this is where the bacon is, instead of relying on market and demand, and are a crual blow to bio-diversity, the perfect entrance door to the Monsanto's and such. They get huge cllients with garanteed revenues even if a crop is overgrown, and oh! Surprise! It happens in the areas where the gm crops are the most developped...Pure coincidence of course...
The subsidies are minimal in my country, and mostly go to farmers when a disaster hits a crop. The quota is far less interventionist than cash distribution, it does not creates false needs, garantees revenues to FAMILY FARMS and has no negative impact on the thirld world, who cannot compete with the artificially low prices of crops sold by America and Europe, low prices that DO NOT END UP AS A BENEFIT TO THE PEOPLE BUYING THE FOOD.
In percentage of revenue earned, the canadians have THE LEAST EXPENSIVE FOOD BASKET IN THE WORLD. we dedicate 11% of our revenue on food, the french 33%, you are somewhere around 15-16% I think. Anyway, you spend more than us. And that is with higher per capita revenue.
So the day one country does better than us, we will still be able to stand up and say that there is only one doing it better, but we are working on it !!!
There could be many sub-discussions on that topic, but I will leave it at that for the moment.
I am praying for the quota system to be improved, for my country to devise a wise family oriented organic policy, and I am saying A HUGE FUCK YOU to the american lobby of corporate industrial growers who want our system of quotas abandonned so they can come in and implant there bloody gigantic animal factories...Oops! Sorry! UNITS factories.
Ask the american small dairy farmers of neighbouring Maine what they think of quotas....You are in for a ''Canada has a great system'' kind of surprise...
The ones against it are the lawers and doctors who pool their cash to build industrial operations they will never see, and are run by a well paid manager and low salaried workers.
Proudly canadian CANADAMIKE